St. Louis Catholic Academy is a safe haven for students to learn and grow in God’s word, Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski said at April 18 blessing and ribbon cutting for the Catholic elementary school’s new campus.
Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski blessed the new St. Louis Catholic Academy campus in St. Louis on April 18. The school was established by the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 2003 to serve families in and around several north St. Louis parishes. Students will attend classes in the new building in the fall of 2024.Photo Credits: Teak Phillips“May it be a place where students and teachers will search for the wisdom that guides the Christian life and strive wholeheartedly to stand by Christ as their teacher,” he said. “May all connected to the school find hope and purpose in the symbols of life, death and resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ.”
St. Louis Catholic Academy will relocate to the former campus of La Salle Charter School at 1106 N. Jefferson Ave., starting with the 2024-25 school year, the archdiocese announced on March 13. The new location is in the Carr Square neighborhood of St. Louis and about four miles southeast of the current school on the campus of St. Elizabeth Mother of John the Baptist Church in the Penrose neighborhood of St. Louis.
“This building will provide a viable, turnkey setting in which the Archdiocese of St. Louis can deliver state-of-the-art, quality education in a renovated space that has a long legacy of Catholic education,” the archdiocese said in a statement.
St. Bridget of Erin Parish was established on the N. Jefferson site in 1853, and the first school building was constructed in 1871. It was replaced with the existing school building in 1957. Several schools merged to form Central Catholic School and Academy at the location, which operated from 1970 to 2012. The building was sold to La Salle Charter School, which closed in 2023.
St. Louis Catholic Academy is part of the Archdiocesan Elementary School Model and is given significant funding and support from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Annual Catholic Appeal and the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation. There are 138 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through eighth from about two dozen metro area zip codes. One hundred percent of students receive scholarship assistance from the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation.
Other community partners include ACCESS Academies, which supports students beginning in middle school through high school; the Grand Endeavor Ministry at St. Anselm Parish; a tutoring program with volunteers at St. Clement of Rome; and the Oikos Group, a partnership among area Christian faith leaders to build trust and address needs in the St. Louis area.
“I think this is a great opportunity to continue to build a strong Catholic community, teaching our students about change and how change is good,” said Dr. Tango Walker, the school’s dean of students.
School families received tours of the building at the April 18 blessing and dedication. Monica Williams, whose daughter Kamora is a first-grader, enrolled her daughter as a kindergartener at the recommendation of a co-worker. So far, she’s been happy with the academics and faith formation that her daughter is receiving.
“They go to Mass every Monday, she prays before she eats,” she said. “She just displays everything she does in school. And I love the academics. Her vocabulary has just exploded.”
As for Kamora? Her favorite part of school is recess, she said. The new campus has a full-size basketball court and outdoor field, which she’s looking forward to playing on next year. “I love playing with my friends,” she said.
Several student ambassadors who participated in the blessing and ribbon cutting ceremony said they love their new school home and look forward moving there in the fall. Students got a sneak peek of the library, cafeteria and some of the classrooms.
“I can’t wait to have Mass here,” fifth-grader Anila Bowen-Scott said as she observed the brightly lit gymnasium. “And I hope we get more students.”